A 1967 suburban horse stable gets a new lease on life as a work studio and guesthouse, courtesy of Shed Architecture & Design in Seattle. Located in the Bridle Trails neighborhood of Kirkland, Washington, which has many miles of equestrian trails, the structure had fallen into disuse. Thomas Schaer, cofounder and principal at Shed, walked us through the transformation.
Photography by Mark Woods, courtesy of Shed Architecture & Design.

Above: The main room in the new studio is a long, open hall that was once divided into two horse stalls and a feed room. It now holds a casual living room at one end and a workspace at the other.
The envelope of the studio remained largely the same as that of the stable; the roofline was already defined, and the gabled roof forms are still visible from the interior. “The awkward collision of gables overhead was the main design problem,” says Schaer. “But this also helped us to create the order of the space, which is really a long hall.” An exposed beam at the center of the ceiling is from the preexisting stables; behind it hangs a Coral Pendant by designer David Trubridge.

Above: The wife of the family is an amateur painter, “and she likes to get really messy,” says Schaer. “The family has kids, too, and they like to make a mess of things.” Since the program required “a space that could take a beating,” the architects used simple finishes?both for utility and fo...